Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Galations 6:9
You’ve done all the right things. You’ve prayed and worked and hoped and waited. But the job fell through, the healing didn’t happen, the pregnancy test came back negative again. You’re pinching pennies, standing in the rain dressed in black, staring at an empty crib, and trying to hold together the pieces of a shattered heart.
You see everyone else’s smiles and laughter and each one feels like a knife in your chest. You’ve picked yourself up so many times before, but now just willing your limbs to move has become as hard as climbing Mt. Everest.
‘Why is it that they get to be so happy and I don’t?’, you think. You know appearances aren’t always what they seem, but to your weary heart it feels like everyone else is experiencing the joy of the harvest, whilst your fields remain empty despite all of your efforts.
You know the verses, you know the stories, you know that waiting is such a common theme in the lives of so many of the heroes of the faith, but it still hurts.
You’ve hoped for so long, and yet the harvest hasn’t come. Maybe there have even been moments where you saw the smallest sprout of growth and you rejoiced that finally something was growing, but then before you could experience the full joy of the harvest, that small shoot of green life shriveled and died. Now all you have left are the dry, dead leaves of withered hopes. You’ve hoped for so long that now it hurts to keep on hoping.
I’m not here to simply repeat the same platitudes that “everything works together for the good of those who love God,” but it’s not because I don’t believe it. I do believe it, but sometimes faith can look different. Sometimes faith looks like crying out for help in the darkness, sometimes faith looks like continuing to take the next step even when you can barely find any hope to hold onto.
And sometimes faith even looks like realizing that it may never get better this side of heaven. It is so very hard to hear, but we are never promised that we will receive our harvest here on earth. That’s not to say that we won’t, but putting our faith and hope in earthly peace or comfort will often lead to discouragement.
Instead, we’re told to place our hope in what is everlasting. We’re told to place our trust in God, because He has never changed and He never will change.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Hebrews 13:8
That doesn’t mean that it won’t still hurt. God doesn’t promise us a life free from pain, but He does promise to be with us in the pain.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.
Isaiah 43:2
As believers, we know that we have a future to look forward to that is SO much better than any good thing we could ever experience here on earth. Even if the story doesn’t turn out the way we want it to in this life, we still have the hope of an everlasting future that is free of all the pain and fear and sadness that we are experiencing right now.
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
2 Corinthians 4: 17-18
This song is a reminder to keep holding onto hope even when it seems like everything in this world is falling apart, because even if we don’t receive our reward in this life, there is a better future coming!
